


Even The Stars Can't Compare (To The Beauty That Is Your Face)

by awkwardloafofbread



Category: Always Raining Here
Genre: As you can tell, But Also Bad At Feelings, F/M, Jaria, Jason Keller Is A Womanizer, Jason Keller x Maria Wong, Jason Keller/Maria Wong - Freeform, M/M, Omg I cant believe Im posting this, One Shot, Pizza, Teens, based off of pages 130-133 of ARH, but hope there are still some of yall out there, idk what to tag lmao, im pretty sure arh is dead, living life, non-au, this was for one person in particular, which is sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 11:13:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11012277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardloafofbread/pseuds/awkwardloafofbread
Summary: Short Jaria fic for @Elbi_FandomFan because I think after all this time, you deserve some ARH <3





	Even The Stars Can't Compare (To The Beauty That Is Your Face)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Elbi_FandomFan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elbi_FandomFan/gifts).



> I wrote this WAY back in 2015 and I finished it and it was okay BUT then, me being the stupid idiot I was at 4am, decided to shut down my computer WITHOUT saving it… i actually wanted to die ;u;  
> So, almost 2 years later, I re-wrote it, changed a few things bc my memory sucks ass, and yeah- here you are!  
> Based off of pages 130-133 :)
> 
> //sorry for any typos

 

 

“Thanks Maria, that was great,” Carter said, holding a take-home box of his leftover pizza in his hand.

 

“Yeah, it’s nothing. I had fun.” Maria said with a smile, eyeing Jason, who was making a weird face while holding up his own take-home pizza box. She chuckled to herself a bit before Adrian got everyone’s attention.

 

“We better get going, bus is coming soon.”

 

Maria glanced at her phone and grimaced. “Yikes, you’re right. So we’ll see you guys at school, then?” Adrian raised his eyebrows as a _yes_ and Jason was too occupied with his pizza box to answer.

 

“Well, actually,” Carter started, looking over to Adrian with a smile. “How about we walk home?”

 

Maria raised a brow and tried to testify against the thought, “Well, it’s kind of far…”

 

“Come on, it’ll be fun!”

 

“I’m up for not spending $1.75 on bus fare,” Jason smiled, looking over at Carter, shifting his eyes to Maria, who looked unsure of the whole idea. He gave her a big smile and she rolled her eyes at him as she shrugged, giving in as she listened to Carter continue on with his argument.

 

“It’s kind of far, but it’s the weekend!” Carter glanced at Adrian with a sly look on his face. “It’s not like we need to do homework.”

 

“You…” Adrian let out, rolling his eyes at the boy.

 

Carter said something else to Adrian, but Maria wasn’t paying attention as Jason started talking to her. “I thought you were all about being’ cool and adventurous!”

 

Maria laughed, “One: whatever gave you that idea? And two: I _am_ , thank you very much.”

 

“Well, we’ll see about that,” Jason retorted as he walked along to catch up with Carter and Adrian, who were already on their way.

 

 

==

 

 

The four walked down the dark streets, only being brightened up by the minimal amount of street lights placed along the sidewalk. Maria and Adrian walked ahead of the two boys and talked about school-- “Like NERDS!” Carter mocked from behind. But all that earned him was a pebble to the head from Adrian, so, really, who’s laughing now?

 

“Dude! You’re eating again already?” Carter teased while rubbing his forehead, when Jason opened up his pizza box and grabbed a slice. Jason took a bite out of it and nodded.

 

“Man, I can eat pizza 24/7 even when I’m not hungry.”

 

Carter would’ve made a comeback but, honestly, “Same.”

 

Carter began talking about the sky or what level he was on Animal Crossing-- Jason wasn’t really paying attention as he nibbled away at the pizza slice in his hand. Instead, he was looking in front of him, at Maria. Jason took notice of how her hair bobbed up and down with her movement and the way her smile complimented the rest of her face when she laughed at whatever her and Adrian were talking about. He hadn’t realized he’d been staring until Carter nudged at his shoulder, chuckling quietly.

 

“Dude,” he whispered. “Do you, like, have a thing for Maria?”

 

Jason nearly choked on the bite of pizza that he was in the midst of swallowing. Coughing a bit, he swallowed it down with a large gulp and shook his head. “Nah dude.” He realized his face started to heat up and he questioned his own answer. “I mean, I don’t think I do.”

 

Carter laughed and hit Jason’s back, “Dude you were staring her down. Sorta creepy, sorta cute I guess?”

 

“Whatever man, I wasn’t even paying attention to what I was doing so--”

 

“So that means you weren’t even listening to me then?!” Carter groaned out, wrapping an arm around Jason’s shoulder. “Dude, _listen_ \--”

 

And Jason zoned out again, rolling his eyes before nodding his head at whatever Carter was going on about. He decided to pay more attention to his pizza than anything else, trying to avert his eyes from Maria as much as he possibly could. But he still found himself glancing at her every now and then and, at one point, they made eye contact and, for some reason, Jason felt as though his heart was going to jump out of his chest when all Maria did was smile at him before continuing with her conversation with Adrian.

 

He didn’t know what was wrong with him. He’s liked girls before, but he never acted like this. Or _felt_ like this. He thought it was really contradictory to the personality he gave off. Or _tried_ to give off. He was womanizer at heart, but this felt different. He shrugged it off and continuing to eat his pizza absentmindedly.

 

He ended up finishing it all and was sad that he wouldn’t have any for home.

 

 

==

 

 

“Yo, dude, let’s go buy some stuff,” Carter encouraged, nudging at Jason’s shoulder again as he pointed to a small convenience store that was at the corner of whatever street they were on. Jason shrugged and followed his friend into the store.

 

He ended up buying some small firecracker… _things_ without questioning whether it was a good idea or not. He saw Maria grabbed a popsicle and didn’t realize when he had grabbed it out of her hand as she was approaching the cash register.

 

“Hey, they have more in the back of the store,” she laughed, crossing her arms.

 

“Nah nah,” Jason waved her off with a smile as he chuckled a bit. “I’ll pay for it for you.”

 

“Wow, Jason Keller being a gentleman?” Maria joked out with a gasp. “I am shocked!”

 

“Me too,” Jason mumbled to himself, counting the change he had pulled out from his pocket, as Maria, who hadn’t heard Jason’s last comment, moved on to criticize Carter about eating his pizza, saying how both him and Jason must have bottomless pits for stomachs.

 

 

==

 

 

The teens arrived at a hill that overlooked the town and it was honestly quite the sight. Of course, Jason wasted no time, quickly running down the hill, flailing his arms around like a lunatic. Maria snickered at how much of a dork Jason was before looking back at Adrian, who was looking at his phone-- a call. Adrian gave her a look, “I’m gonna go deal with this.”

 

She sighed and shook her head, rolling her eyes a bit before Carter asked, “What’s up with him? It’s only nine it can’t be curfew.”

 

She only continued to walk down the hill, muttering a “It’s nothing new” before joining Jason, who was sprawled out on the grass, a huge grin on his face. She smiled slightly before taking a seat next to him, he quickly shot up when she let her head rest on the grass. “Oh jeez, c’mon I’m not gonna bite,” she snickered, looking up at Jason, who was a stiff as a board.

 

Jason took in a deep breath then forced a nervous chuckled, “Pfft- yeah, I know that. You just… surprised me,” he lied through his teeth. He couldn’t believe he just did that. He was so obvious.

 

Jason hesitantly lied his head next to Maria’s and it would be an understatement to say it was awkward. Or, at least, it was to Jason. Maria, on the other hand, just laughed at his flushed face. “Dude, you’re weird,” she sat up, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.

 

“We’re all a little weird, Maria. Don’t be rude,” Jason chuckled, bringing his arms behind his head to act as a headrest.

 

“You know any constellations?” Maria asked suddenly, trying to avoid any awkward silence.

 

Jason tapped at his chin, “Uhhh… Nah, bro. Only Orion’s belt.”

 

Maria snickered, “How lame.”

 

“Well _sorry_ Mrs. Know-It-All!!” Jason grunted out, smiling wide. “Go on then, genius. Gimme some constellations.”

 

“Well, for one, Orion’s belt is a part of Orion himself,” Maria pointed out a few stars in the clear, dark sky, “See? If you connect those, you get all of Orion.” Jason let out a hum of acknowledgement and Maria continued. “Then there’s his two dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor,” she pointed again, following the straight line Orion’s belt made like she was taught when she was younger. “That’s Canis Major, the bigger dog. Canis Minor’s a bit harder to find, ‘cause it only has two stars, but there it is,” she pointed again, and Jason followed her every moment, smiling so fondly.

 

Shit. She was adorable.

 

“There’s way more, like Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, but those are all the generic constellations,” she finished, looking over to Jason with a slight smirk. “Were you even listening?”

 

Jason snickered, “Yeah, of course! Dude, stars are dope.”

 

She laughed, “Yeah. Dope.”

 

They laughed together and Maria told a short story about how she was taught about the constellations when she was little. It’s still one of her favorite lessons she’s ever been taught. If Jason was going to be honest, he enjoyed this so much. Being in Maria’s company was great. So great.

 

Jason grunted internally. He was getting soft!

 

Thankfully, Carter and Adrian finally decided to join the two, sitting next to them on the grass.

 

“Find any UFOs?” Carter asked, shifting his position on the grass slightly until he was comfortable.

 

“Nah, Maria’s just showing me the stars.”

 

“Ohh yeah. Always loved stars and constellations. They make the sky so beautiful.”

 

Adrian and Maria smiled at that, looking up to the sky, along with Jason who just hummed in agreement to Carter’s earlier notion.

 

Jason couldn’t stop stealing glances at the girl next to him. How the faint light from the night sky fell upon her face so perfectly. She looked amazing in this lighting, to say the least. And Jason cursed at himself again.

 

 

==

 

 

“Okay,” Maria sighed, getting up from the grass. “We should get going.”

 

Jason stretched out on the grass before following her and getting up, walking back up the hill along with Carter and Adrian (the two were following close behind, leaving Maria and Jason alone at the front).

 

Once they arrived at a fork in the path, Maria pointed down one road, while Carter pointed down the other. “My house is this way,” she said and Carter echoed.

 

“Hey, Adrian, want me to take you home?” Carter smiled. Adrian raised an eyebrow and testified at first, but gave in quickly, since Carter wouldn’t stop whining about it. Maria laughed at that and started saying her goodbyes.

 

“This was fun, guys. Really,” she smiled.

 

“Yeah, we should totally do this again sometime!” Carter proposed, a smile appearing on his face once again. The boy was a smiling mess. Especially around Adrain.

 

Carter and Adrian waved at the two as they began walking down one path and Maria was turning to walk down her own, smiling as she said a personal goodbye to Jason, thanking him for the night.

 

“Yeah,” he trailed off as she started walking. He took in another deep breath and questioned the thought in his head. _Whatever_ , he thought before running after her, “Uh hey- wait up!”

 

Maria turned around to look at him, raising her eyebrow slightly as a smirk appeared on her face. “Yeah?”

 

“Uh,” Jason started, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Lemme walk you home. As a sort of thanks. Also, it’s late and shit. So yeah.”

 

Maria shifted her weight from her left foot to her right and crossed her arms over her chest, snickering a bit. “It’s fine, dude. Go home.”

 

Jason ignored her and stayed by her side, giving her a smile, which probably looked just as unsure and nervous as he truly was no matter how hard he tried to make it look cool and chill. “Nah, I want to. It’s fine,” he insisted. She sighed and laughed a bit.

 

“Whatever, dude. You do you.”

 

And so, Jason walked Maria home. It was awkward at first, but then again, Jason expected as much. However, Jason broke the silence, encouraging Maria to tell him more about the stars.

 

“You must really like stars, huh?” she laughed before pointing out a few more constellations and talking about other cools ones that you can’t see at this time.

 

It’s not that he liked stars. Well, he did, but not that much. He just enjoyed listening to Maria explain them, pointing them out and scrunching her nose slightly when she tried to find the right star. Jason could listen to Maria go on about stars and find them in the sky forever. And he didn’t even care how sappy he sounded at the moment.

 

He got it now. He does have a thing for Maria. A huge thing. And it scared the shit out of him.

 

 

==

 

 

“Well, here it is,” Maria said, nodding her head towards her house with a smile. “Thanks for walking me home.”

 

“Yeah of course,” Jason smiled back. “This was a great night.”

 

“Yeah, it was,” Maria snickered, walking up to her front door. They stood there, just looking at each other for a little before Maria rolled her eyes with a smile. “Okay, well, goodnight Jason,” she chuckled, turning to her door, grabbing her house key from her pocket.

 

Jason stiffened up a bit before gulping, reaching out, “Uh hey!” Maria turned to look at him, a little confused. “Uh, would you- maybe- wanna do this again sometime?”

 

Maria shifted to face Jason and smirked before shrugging. “Yeah sure, I’m up for doing this again.”

 

Jason gulped again and rubbed at the back of his neck, “No I mean.. Just the two of us. Maybe… If you want. I dunno.” He was a stuttering mess and he hated how flustered he was but he got the question out, and that’s all that mattered at this point.

 

Maria smiled fondly, “Sure, Jason. I’m up for that.” Jason beamed at that, trying to contain his huge grin. “Pass me your phone,” she said, holding out her hand. Jason compiled and Maria had returned his device within seconds. “There. My number.”

 

Jason looked down at the new contact and couldn’t contain his smile anymore, looking up at Maria, “Cool. Thanks.”

 

Maria chuckled, “I’m free mostly on weekends, so just hit me up. It’d be fun to do this again with you.”

 

“Yeah. It’ll be fun.” Jason agreed with a smile, before saying goodnight to Maria and walking away from her house-- he was almost, _almost_ skipping. But he kept his cool until he saw that Maria had gone in her house. He pumped his fist into the air as a victory sign and whisper-yelled a _yes!!_ He’d done it. He got Maria’s number and confirmation on doing this again. Alone. Just the two of them. “Well played, Jason Keller,” he praised himself as he walked down the street to his own home.

 

Little did he know that Maria was watching him from her living room window, smiling and giggling at his dorky actions. She thought of something with a smirk before she walked up to her room.

 

 

_“This’ll be fun,”_

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t post much about it anymore but ARH will always be my first love, I swear QAQ
> 
> THANKS FOR READING ANY ARH FANS OUT THERE ;u;  
> @Elbi_FandomFan thanks for being amazing <33


End file.
